A Rare 1901 Silver McKinley Inaugural Medal

BillJones

The 1901 McKinley inaugural medal was the first piece of its kind in the modern era. Prior to then, the official inaugural medals had been connected to ribbons. The 1901 piece was the first standalone medal as we think of them today.

The 1901 Bronze medal is common for an early inaugural medal. The mintage was thought to be between 3,000 and 4,000. Collectors view it as one of "the easy ones."

The silver medal is another matter. The mintage was 55 pieces. These medals were given to those who worked on the inaugural committee and probably others who put in a fair amount of time to make the event a success.

These pieces don't come to market that often. The late Joe Levine, who wrote and excellent little book on inaugural medals in 1980, guessed that many pieces were still in the possession of family members as heirlooms.

Some of the few pieces I have seen had problems. They have been improperly cleaned or what the grading services call "environmental damage." These medals were issued in a leather presentation box, and I imagine that the leather was the medal's enemy. It either caused damage or encouraged cleaning which resulted in similar problems.

This is the last silver inaugural medal that is collectable until 1953. In subsequent years, the mintages were limited to less than 5 pieces which were given to VIPs or which ended museums.

A dealer offered me a silver Warren G. Harding medal a few years ago. According to Joe Levine, there are 6 known. The Harding medal is rare in any medal. Since the asking price was $32,000, I was not ready to pull the trigger at that time.

In 1853, the Republicans won the White House for the first time since 1928. The Inaugural Committee offer silver medals to the public for the first time, and the mintage ballooned to over 800 pieces. Since then silver medals have been offered to the public on a regular basis.

A 1953 Eisenhower silver inaugural medal

thecoinjunkie

Interesting post and some beautiful medals there!

oldabeintx

Thanks Bill for another informative post.

TheGoonies1985

Title is wrong not meal but medal.

MedalCollector

I saw this one too, and I would agree that the quality is especially nice for the type. If you need one, good luck getting a nicer example.

Until now, it didn’t register with me that the silver medals had a sand blasted (or similar) finish applied, whereas the bronze strikes did not. It shows the additional care that was taken with the silver examples, whether or not one finds the finish to be more eye-appealing.

These were struck by J K Davison, in my opinion, a medal-maker that is often underrated by today’s collectors.

DCW

Great example, Bill!
Very rare and historical piece. I wonder if the gold example given to McKinley is in a museum somewhere?

bsshog40

It's been a while since I've seen one of your awesome history lesson and Medals Bill. Thanks for sharing!

DCW

@PillarDollarCollector said:
Title is wrong not meal but medal.

But it sure looks tasty 😆